Do I have Aspergers? Or just AvPD?

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I think many people with asperger's also have traits of AvPD or SPD (myself included). But there doesn't seem as much support out there for these personality disorders as there is for autistic spectrum disorders - there are fewer websites, forums, books etc. I guess most people would rather have a diagnosis for something that they can get more support for. There's also the kudos of being associated with a condition that lots of famous people are believed to have had.

According to the DSM, SPD and AvPD are psychiatric disorders that are mutually exclusive with autism spectrum disorders, which are neurological. I think I developed SPD when I was younger as a coping mechanism for asperger's. So how can they be mutually exclusive? I can't help thinking this is an artificial restriction to try to keep things simple.

Sometimes the only way of knowing whether you have problems with social cues or not is through asking people close to you, like family or close friends. You might think that what you're doing is okay, but they might have different views.

Also, Schizoid and AvPD are not the same as ASD - the latter is developmental, while the first two are more about malfunctioning coping strategies. I think they are mutually exclusive because it's more of a differential diagnosis between schizoid and AvPD and ASD - a clinician would be trying to find out the roots of why the behaviour existed.

You can, however, have ASD and social anxiety.